Zé and Lucio ruled out

Brazilian duo to miss Olympique clash

Created on 09-12-2008 at 00:00 AM

At just before midday on Tuesday, the Bayern squad set off from Munich for their final Champions League Group F fixture away to Olympique Lyon, but Brazilian duo Zé Roberto (muscle strain) und Lucio (cold) were not part of the party aboard Lufthansa flight LH 5018.

Christian Lell also misses out with illness, while Lukas Podolski has failed to shake off a niggling back problem and remained in Bavaria. The Germany international instead trained at the Säbener Strasse, supervised by rehab coach Thomas Wilhelmi.

To cover for the absent Lucio, head coach Jürgen Klinsmann called Bayern reserves skipper Georg Niedermaier into his 18-strong squad. Fit-again Hamit Altintop is also set to feature in the Champions League for the first time this term.

Tuesday morning brought news of long-term injury victim Willy Sagnol. The France stalwart will not be undergoing further surgery on his troublesome Achilles tendon. “We have hopes he’ll make a comeback,” commented Karl-Heinz Rummenigge before the flight to Lyon.

Sagnol went under the knife in early August in an effort to rid himself of long-standing Achilles problems, but his recovery has been protracted and the player recently aired thoughts of quitting the game. “I hope the pain goes away. Nothing’s any fun when you’re in pain,” Rummenigge reflected. Sagnol has been at Bayern for eight years and is under contract until mid-2010. His most recent competitive appearance was a run-out for France at Euro 2008 back in June.